Firefighters tackled a blaze in an optician’s store in Chester city centre.
Crews smashed their way in to Vision Express, Northgate Street, after being alerted by an alarm sounding about 11.50pm on Tuesday.
Six fire engines attended and a total of three hosereels were used to tackle the fire which was ‘going well’.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus discovered the blaze in a store room on the ground floor. They extinguished the fire using a hose reel jet and then continued into the building to check there were no further fires.
Fortunately, the fire broke through an exterior door which allowed the heat and smoke to vent to the outside meaning there was no horizontal or vertical fire spread.
Smoke had spread through the property and was cleared using high volume industrial fans. The cause of the fire is a suspected electrical fault.
Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Ian Kay said: “The building has a complex layout and crews did a fantastic job in difficult circumstances in putting out the fire and clearing the heavy smoke logging.”
Crews were in attendance until about 3.30am.
